Luddist

To see what Star Control melee with multiple ships might look like, there's Space Pirates and Zombies. Aside from an annoyance or two, SPAZ does combat in this style well. It has a Star Control feel and the creators acknowledge Star Control as part of their influence. I think getting the action down, the space combat, is Stardock's greatest challenge here. The quality of the action usually wins out over even story in action RPGs. Bad action with a good story = yawn

I can't suggest anything specific, but obviously the races function best when they are a cohesive group character and have a specific agenda going on distinct from other races. Then there are the individual characters, like Fwiffo, Tanaka, etc. that add a focalized interest and perhaps a slightly different agenda than the whole of their race. Throw some caricatured stereotypes in there with some humor (for some, not all races. ie Mycon/Slylandro being fairly serious) and you have part of

Hey! I'm in the UQM credits, hire me :)

...that a worthy successor to Star Control 2 might actually be made. Normally I don't get excited for far off things but I can't help myself with this one. Thanks for taking this property up, and outbidding some phone financial software company that likely would have sat on it... or worse. Happy days and jubilation!